skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

Title: Community‐engaged learning to broaden the impact of applied ecology: A case study
Abstract

Ecological changes are creating disruptions that often disproportionately impact communities of color and economically disadvantaged areas. Scientists who study the consequences experienced by these communities are uniquely suited to bring the public into their work as a way of setting conditions that enable impacted residents to empower themselves to advance environmental and community change. In addition to involving community stakeholders in the process of science, community science can be used to motivate learning and increase engagement of students. Here we highlight a case study of one way a historically Black college involved local communities and students in water quality monitoring efforts to examine the role of the environment in human health. Students in an introductory‐level environmental toxicology course collaborated with community members to track pollution and monitor conditions in an urban, impaired stream. Students participated in bi‐monthly water quality monitoring alongside community watershed researchers and an annual day‐long multisite sampling event with community residents and organizations. Through this engagement, students and community members contributed to the collection of data, learned about the significance of their results, and translated findings into strategies to advance watershed restoration, health, quality of life, and environmental justice goals.

  more » « less
NSF-PAR ID:
10418789
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Ecological Applications
Volume:
33
Issue:
5
ISSN:
1051-0761
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ( , Journal of contemporary water research education)
    null (Ed.)
    Freshwater systems worldwide are increasingly facing complex environmental issues. In the Laurentian Great Lakes region, harmful algal blooms are one example spanning agriculture, municipal drinking water, science and monitoring, water quality, and human health. Addressing these challenges and working across stakeholder interests requires sound science and additional skills that are not necessarily taught to graduate students in the apprentice research model. Effective stakeholder engagement and science communication are two areas consistent with emphases on broader impacts from the National Science Foundation, information and dissemination of the National Institutes of Health, and community engagement of the National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The lack of training in these areas creates a gap for outreach, engagement, and science communication training to help enable researchers to translate important science to influential stakeholders, policy makers, and members of the public. To address this gap, we held a Community-Engaged Scholarship Workshop for graduate students and early career faculty. The workshop used an established community-engagement framework and was tailored to address the complex environmental issue of harmful algal blooms. It addressed four community-engagement competencies, including community-engaged partnerships, community-engaged teaching and learning, community-engaged research, and science communications. Here, we report evaluation results on changes in these four competencies and participant satisfaction. We conclude with a discussion of potential improvements and next steps for those seeking to host similar community-engaged trainings. 
    more » « less
  2. ( , Journal of curriculum and teaching)
    Ella Smith Editorial Assistant Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Sciedu Press (Ed.)
    Abstract A major blight of urban development has been the existence of environmental inequities which affect how and where low-income communities and communities of color live. Targeted communities are beginning to receive long-overdue analysis and civic action. New laws and amendments have been made to better the conditions of these historically underserved communities. Currently, in New York City, historic progress is being made by providing all residents of these affected communities with the tools to advocate for the best outcomes for their neighborhoods. It is the first time in the city’s history that the issue of environmental justice has reached such a milestone. Civic participatory action of this magnitude requires the development of alliances between all members of the community. Students from these marginalized neighborhoods can make a vital contribution in eliminating environmental racism and restoring their communities’ environmental urban footprint. To this end, the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (STEM + C) Project has been working to provide long-term, hands-on, environmental restoration education and action research to the students in New York City. Restoration of the Eastern oyster in New York Harbor waterways surrounding many of these communities exposes the youth of the city to the community inequities. One of the objectives of the CCERS STEM + C Project is to study its effect on student awareness, motivation and engagement in community-based environmental restoration. Over 500 New York City school students were surveyed on self-reported factors including awareness, motivation and community engagement. Those students in the CCERS STEM + C Program had a significantly higher level of awareness and motivation in terms of community-engagement and social action. 
    more » « less
  3. ( , Journal of curriculum and teaching)
    lla Smith Editorial Assistant Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Sciedu Press (Ed.)
    A major blight of urban development has been the existence of environmental inequities which affect how and where low-income communities and communities of color live. Targeted communities are beginning to receive long-overdue analysis and civic action. New laws and amendments have been made to better the conditions of these historically underserved communities. Currently, in New York City, historic progress is being made by providing all residents of these affected communities with the tools to advocate for the best outcomes for their neighborhoods. It is the first time in the city’s history that the issue of environmental justice has reached such a milestone. Civic participatory action of this magnitude requires the development of alliances between all members of the community. Students from these marginalized neighborhoods can make a vital contribution in eliminating environmental racism and restoring their communities’ environmental urban footprint. To this end, the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (STEM + C) Project has been working to provide long-term, hands-on, environmental restoration education and action research to the students in New York City. Restoration of the Eastern oyster in New York Harbor waterways surrounding many of these communities exposes the youth of the city to the community inequities. One of the objectives of the CCERS STEM + C Project is to study its effect on student awareness, motivation and engagement in community-based environmental restoration. Over 500 New York City school students were surveyed on self-reported factors including awareness, motivation and community engagement. Those students in the CCERS STEM + C Program had a significantly higher level of awareness and motivation in terms of community-engagement and social action 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences)
    Abstract

    With the ongoing need for water conservation, the American Southwest has worked to increase harvested rainwater efforts to meet municipal needs. Concomitantly, environmental pollution is prevalent, leading to concerns regarding the quality of harvested rainwater.Project Harvest, a co-created community science project, was initiated with communities that neighbor sources of pollution. To better understand how a participant’s socio-demographic factors affect home characteristics and rainwater harvesting infrastructure, pinpoint gardening practices, and determine participant perception of environmental pollution, a 145-question “Home Description Survey” was administered toProject Harvestparticipants (n = 167) by projectpromotoras(community health workers). Race/ethnicity and community were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with participant responses regarding proximity to potential sources of pollution, roof material, water harvesting device material, harvesting device capacity, harvesting device age, garden amendments, supplemental irrigation, and previous contaminant testing. Further, the study has illuminated the idiosyncratic differences in how underserved communities perceive environmental pollution and historical past land uses in their community. We propose that the collection of such data will inform the field on how to tailor environmental monitoring efforts and results for constituent use, how community members may alter activities to reduce environmental hazard exposure, and how future studies can be designed to meet the needs of environmentally disadvantaged communities.

     
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ( , 12 th Natural Resource Management & Research Symposium “BELIZE, ‘THROUGH THE BOTTLENECK’”)
    Environmental impacts associated with inefficient and ineffective land-based wastewater treatment have direct implications for regional governments and local communities in the Caribbean due to the links between environmental quality of coastal areas (e.g. coral reefs) and socioeconomic activities (e.g. tourism, commercial fishing, cultural heritage, recreation). In Placencia, Belize an interdisciplinary team of students and community members investigate the tradeoffs that exists amid a food-energy-water systems (FEWS) case study, in order to co-create sustainable solutions. This work partners with Fragments of Hope and EcoFriendly Solutions to take a systems approach to consider the dynamic and interrelated factors and leverage points (e.g. technological, regulatory, organizational, social, economic) related to the adoption and sustainability of wastewater innovations at cayes where coral restoration work is occurring. This technology can improve water quality issues in sensitive marine ecosystems and productively reuse water and nutrients to grow food. Results show that marketing and technical strategies contributed to incremental improvements in the system's sustainability, while changing community behaviors (i.e. reporting the correct number of users and reclaiming resources – water and nutrients – for food production), was the more significant way to influence the sustainable management of the wastewater resources and to protect the coastal environment. The work is situated within the deeper context of graduate student research and training where the University of South Florida is partnering with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center to raise up a new generation of globally competent science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students. These students develop interdisciplinary and 21st century skills, as well as technical and methodological flexibility to address the complexity inherent in “wicked problems”. To accomplish this, the partners provide resources and training for interdisciplinary and systems-based teaching and research that results in original and impactful solutions developed alongside community members to locally and globally focused challenges. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email